Mike’s Hikes is a series of year-round hikes throughout the Western Slope’s public lands that WSCC is actively working to protect. We offer hikes for all abilities and interests, with the goal of connecting our community to local public lands. We’re currently putting together a diverse and educational schedule for 2024. Check back regularly for updates and to sign up for our free hikes!
If the hike has an active link, we are accepting sign ups. Click the link for more info and to register.
November 29- Black Friday at the Dolores Canyon near Gateway- Instead of heading to the department stores this Black Friday, join us for a scenic hike in the beautiful Gateway area off the Dolores River. This area is part of our proposed Dolores Canyons National Monument, so we will get the chance to see the land firsthand and relate it to the work the WSCC is doing. Sign up here!
October 9 – Methane Capture with Chris Caskey Earlier this year, WSCC hosted a Winter Speaker Series talk with Delta Brick & Climate Company. Founder, Chris Caskey, explained their ongoing efforts to mitigate methane gas leaks from an abandoned coal mine property near Paonia. We are excited to offer this special Mike’s Hike to give attendees a chance to visit the site and see first hand how Chris and his team are working to fix this ongoing issue. We will get to see their methane capture system and the methane destruction system up close!
September 15 – Nature & Nourishment What’s even better than going out on a Mike’s Hike? Stopping by Electric Mountain Lodge for lunch and an adult bevy afterwards! Join us this extra relaxing hike through the aspens along Terror Trail.
September 1 – Edible Plants of Interocean Pass Join Hike Leader, Ewelina Bajda, for this all-time favorite Mike’s Hike! Participants will be introduced to the local flora that is in season in the beautiful montane forest and shrubland ecosystem below the Interocean Pass on the Crawford side.
August 24th – Mushroom Foray For another year, we are offering our desired Mushroom Foray Mike’s Hike! Each year, this Hike fills to capacity, so reserve your spot soon! Join Tara Miller, Ryan Warwick, and Chris Dalbow to learn about edible mushrooms found in our area. If conditions are suitable, you will hopefully be able to take some home with you.
August 17th & 18th – Black Mesa Overnight Join us as we go on the first ever overnight Mike’s Hike in its seven year history! We will journey up to Black Mesa and stay at Terry Randall-Smith and Steve Smith’s cabin. On the 17th, they will take us on a five mile gorgeous hike on the Mesa before returning to the cabin to camp. Thank you to Terry and Steve for offering this amazing Mike’s Hike!
August 10 – Dyer Creek Trail Join WSCC board member, Russ Zick, on a moderate hike from FS Trail # 713-3A to Dyer Creek. Since may have advocated to have the hard-to-reach Medicant Ridge formerly recognized for its wilderness characteristics, we decided to schedule a Hike. We will hike through meadows and forests, get a glimpse of beaver ponds, have great views on the drive over!
July 24th – Beaver Powered Wetlands and Meadows Join Allison Elliot, WSCC Board Member, for a short hike in Hubbard Park, near Electric Mountain Lodge. We will get to see a series of past and precent beaver ponds and beaver tree-felling up close!!
Winter Wildlife Habitat Project with the USFS Join WSCC and the USFS to visit a portion of the Paonia Winter Wildlife Habitat Improvement project that the Forest Service will be implementing in the next couple of years. We will be discussing project needs, treatments, and desired outcomes from the project. We will be visiting past treatment areas to look at post-treatment conditions. In addition, we will visit some of the town’s water infrastructure, springs, and infiltration galleries to discuss how we will protect those areas during implementation of the project and reduce fuels available for wildfire. Being rescheduled!
June 8th – Birding along Hubbard Creek Join us for an easy 2-3 mile birding hike! For bird viewing our Hike leaders, Bob Sapena and Tim Shortell, will lead us mainly along the dirt road with a few possible spots to wander off in different directions. On a recent outing, 32 species were spotted! This birding area is ideal due to the mix of habitats: scrub oak, pinyon and juniper trees, open meadows, riparian areas including beaver ponds (now breached), taller Douglas fir and cottonwoods, and cliffs.
May 26th – Geology of Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park: An “Old but Young feature” or “Deep, Steep, and Narrow”. Big enough to be overwhelming, still intimate enough to feel the pulse of time, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park exposes you to some of the steepest cliffs, oldest rock, and craggiest spires in North America. With two million years to work, the Gunnison River, along with the forces of weathering, has sculpted this vertical wilderness of rock, water, and sky. If you have never been or if you are a regular, this scheduled hike to Exclamation Point at a locally treasured National Park awaits you. Along the way geologist, Peter McCarville, will entertain you with this “old but young” feature called the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Hike from the North Rim visitor center to Exclamation point is 3 miles round trip with and additional hike to the top of Green Mountain if interest, time and weather permit.
May 24th – Geology in the Gunnison Gorge For those who were unable to sign-up for the 5/26 Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park hike, here’s another opportunity to view the geological layers of the Gunnison Gorge. Join us in the area that is adjacent to the Gunnison Gorge Wilderness, and within the Gunnison River National Conservation Area. The Hike will be led by Missy Rogers. Missy was the Artist in Residence for the Gunnison Gorge and as been hired to do plant and animal surveys. If a biologist isn’t available I’ve volunteered my naturalist interests to stand in. Missy has worked with CDOW and the BLM (surveying Mexican Spotted Owls, River Otters, the Uncompahgre Frillitary) and has been involved with monitoring treatments for the BLM from Crawford, Paradox, Norwood to Cimmarron.
April 20th – Sunset at Elephant Hill Join us for a 2.5 to 3 mile moderately strenuous hike to the top of Elephant Hill. Some sections of this hike are steep. Find out why WSCC is working to add protections to this area as an ACEC (Area of Critical Environmental Concern). Enjoy spectacular views, solitude and sunset in this very special area. We will look for signs of spring, identifying plant life and birds along the way.
March 2nd – What the Duck? Want to know what all the quack is about? Do you want to see some migratory waterfowl? Join us on March 2nd as we journey to Confluence Park or Sweitzer Lake State Park to see if we can spot some cool waterfowl! Location will be determined a day or two before the hike based on what has been spotted at each location. Newest volunteer leader and waterfowl enthusiast, Anthony Signorino, will be leading the hike.
February 10 – Adobe Badlands Join us on the second Mike’s Hike of the year! The Adobe Badlands WSA and WSA Adjacent LWC unit provides a critical resource as a place for solitude and unconfined recreation, not to mention awe inspiring vistas and incredible sunsets. This area is also home to the Colorado Hookless Cactus, a threatened cactus species that only grows in a small area between Grand Junction and Delta. We will be on the lookout for those. The greater Adobe Badlands are a rare and vulnerable environment. In fact, WSCC is nominating the adjacent lands north of our hike as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACED) in the BLM’s Amended Regional Management Plan due to these environmental factors. The Colorado Natural Heritage Program considers salt desert shrub lands in the area to be globally vulnerable and locally imperiled. Additionally, this region provides essential habitat linkage between the high elevations of Grand Mesa, the canyons of Dominguez Escalante National Conservation Area, and the high country of the Uncompahgre Plateau.
January 21 – Elephant Hill Join us on the first Mike’s Hike of the year! Hikers will enjoy views of Jumbo Mountain, Lone Cabin Road, Mt. Gunnison, the Raggeds. and Paonia. It will be on BLM land, adjacent to Hidden Valley residential subdivision, and is part of a proposed Area of Critical Concern (ACEC). The BLM set up this category of protection and WSCC would like people to see and appreciate this area’s special character. Does anyone know about the name of this area? Do you want to see evidence of the last two periods of glaciation? Curious about this often overlooked community treasure? Please sign up and help us enjoy the outing!
